I would keep the Bernina no matter what I bought next. :) Not just backup, but multiple projects need multiple machines. As to the thread on the "sewing over thick seams", each person must take that with a grain of salt because who knows what sewing techniques or lack thereof people are using. I have a Viking, a Pfaff and two Janomes, and a mechanical Elna, and all can sew over thick seams. One or two like a hump-jumper to do it, but it's not an issue. The real issue in the thick seaming as far as I can tell is how high the presser foot goes, and my Pfaff 1222E hasn't that much clearance under the presser foot. I even wonder if that was on purpose so I couldn't abuse the machine! BTW - it's the Pfaff that is set up for quilting, but the Viking has no tension issues and does free motion very well (it's a Platinum 770).
All that said, it's a personal decision what machine you buy -what you like and what I like can be two very different things - things like positioning in front of a machine, where the needle area is on a given machine (front like the Viking or back like most others, etc., etc.). Try whatever machine you can. I have admired the Bernina B380 and the 430 because these machines don't do embroidery, which I never do either, and they are both really sturdy and really wonderful machines, but the prices seem out of line to me.